Major thanks due to my sister Alison and her gardening expert friend Sue for doing much of the design and planting work. I could not have done this without their support and encouragement.

lacarnut

05-26-2011, 07:27 AM

Looks much better and I especially like the rockery, fence treatments and pavers. You need some waterfalls in there. Is that grass in the middle of the yard?

MrsSmith

05-26-2011, 07:39 AM

Very pretty!

SaintLouieWoman

05-26-2011, 09:11 AM

Was:

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h281/hampshirebrit/4c10aead.jpg

...a tad overgrown.

Is now:

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h281/hampshirebrit/c5c8b4a6.jpg

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h281/hampshirebrit/70148369.jpg

...much improved.
Much improved indeed. What a lot of work and so beautiful. I'm not sure what you call that red leafed plant in the bottom pic. The common non-botanical name here is coral bells, at least in the St Louis area. About 10 years ago I had planted some in a huge concrete planter that was too heavy to move here. Although it's technically an annual in the midwest that supposedly will never over winteer successfully, they were still going strong after 10 years in that large pot. I hope they spring up eternally for you to help you remember the beautiful time creating that lovely garden with your sis and her friend. They are quite the gardeners.

It looks like you have strawberry plants in the herb section. Is another one of those herbs basil? That should make a good tasting pasta dish.

Kay

05-26-2011, 09:26 AM

I love it! That looks so inviting. I agree with lacars, on adding
a small waterfall. Maybe have it falling into a little fish pond
at the bottom. The before and after pictures are amazing. All
it takes is a little elbow grease. :)

bijou

05-26-2011, 10:05 AM

That looks great. Now where is the chilli plant? :D

Rockntractor

05-26-2011, 10:35 AM

No wonder your never here, you're busy planting posey's!:rolleyes:

Gingersnap

05-26-2011, 11:05 AM

Good job! Everything looks just great! I'll bet it's a lot more fun and relaxing out there now. :)

RobJohnson

05-26-2011, 11:31 AM

I love it! That looks so inviting. I agree with lacars, on adding
a small waterfall. Maybe have it falling into a little fish pond
at the bottom. The before and after pictures are amazing. All
it takes is a little elbow grease. :)

I agree with everything she said above with on exception. Fish ponds can be a real pain to take care of.

Articulate_Ape

05-26-2011, 02:25 PM

Hamp is Mr. Miyagi? Who knew?

hampshirebrit

05-26-2011, 03:28 PM

The before and after pictures are amazing. All
it takes is a little elbow grease. :)

That and a shitload of money .... around £10,000 so far, for clearance, levelling, fencing, decking and paving, plants, planting, turf, equipment and electrics (decklights and spots go in tomorrow). I don't begrudge a penny, it's money well spent.

The real gardening part was huge fun. My sister and our friend visited Sunday and did all the real gardening work. We made a day of it, I did them a nice lunch and lots of my neighbours came to have a look-see. A very joyful day.

All that went before that (clearance, decking, paving) was a total PITA. I ended up working in the kitchen just so I could keep an eye on the crew. You have to watch some of these people like a hawk.

No water feature ... not enough space. The back plot is only around 100ft2. And yes, it is Real Grass (tm) which requires sprinkler attention twice a day.

lacarnut

05-26-2011, 04:01 PM

That and a shitload of money .... around £10,000 so far, for clearance, levelling, fencing, decking and paving, plants, planting, turf, equipment and electrics (decklights and spots go in tomorrow). I don't begrudge a penny, it's money well spent.

The real gardening part was huge fun. My sister and our friend visited Sunday and did all the real gardening work. We made a day of it, I did them a nice lunch and lots of my neighbours came to have a look-see. A very joyful day.

All that went before that (clearance, decking, paving) was a total PITA. I ended up working in the kitchen just so I could keep an eye on the crew. You have to watch some of these people like a hawk.

No water feature ... not enough space. The back plot is only around 100ft2. And yes, it is Real Grass (tm) which requires sprinkler attention twice a day.

You could always place a small bird bath and put up hanging hummingbird feeders on a pole on both sides of the water feature. That would look good in the middle of the grass plot. They make the el cheap oh plastic ones. I like the concrete ones but they are quite heavy and would be one hell of a fit in the 911.

hampshirebrit

05-26-2011, 04:41 PM

You could always place a small bird bath and put up hanging hummingbird feeders on a pole on both sides of the water feature. That would look good in the middle of the grass plot. They make the el cheap oh plastic ones. I like the concrete ones but they are quite heavy and would be one hell of a fit in the 911.

Good thought. I'm definitely going for a good quality bird feeder / bird bath combo. My sister has one in her garden. It's a work of art in its own right... it's just beautiful. I will have something similar. There is just enough space for one nice piece of artwork. It'll not fit in the 911, so I will have to fork out for the extra delivery charges.

I'm thinking in terms of where would be best in terms of positioning. I'm thinking in terms of where the birds would want to go to and what's the best vantage point for us to watch them. I shall shortly also be getting a cat and dog, so this must all be considered too (the woodchip bit in the back yard is for the pupper).

The garden as a whole is attracting a lot of bird-life now. I have had the neighbourhood blackbird (it sings the first two bars of Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, I shit you not) and a very nice thrush strutting their stuff on my lawn past couple of days.

We're quite fortunate here, in that we have good variety of avians here, from owls, hawks, kestrels, down to goldfinches, other finches, bluetits (many many of them), the thing with the red markings on its head, don't know what it's called but it's nice, robins, wrens (lovely creature, the wren), and so on. Woodpeckers, last year. You get the idea.

It's also very gratifying to see bees already busy at my plants. Turns out that my neighbours has just started a bee-hive in their backyard.

Rockntractor

05-26-2011, 06:35 PM

http://i686.photobucket.com/albums/vv230/upyourstruly/gopher.jpg

Hawkgirl

05-26-2011, 07:46 PM

Looks purty!

hai

05-26-2011, 08:24 PM

Nice garden.

Kay

05-26-2011, 10:28 PM

Fish ponds can be a real pain to take care of.

I used to have a huge fish pond right off my back porch, with giant Koi fish in it.
I had awesome booming water lilies floating around in it. It was so peaceful, but
yes, quite a lot of work to maintain it.

That and a shitload of money .... around £10,000 so far

Random thought:
If a shitload = 10,000 pounds, then what value is put on a buttload?

You could always place a small bird bath and put up hanging hummingbird feeders

Yes, I love watching the birds around a birdbath and feeders too.

I know!
Hamps you need to set up a webcam (like the eagle nest or African watering hole ones).
Then when we can't sleep at night we can watch what's happening in your back yard. :)

ABC in Georgia

05-26-2011, 10:43 PM

Wow, Hamps ...

Looks great! Looks just as good as if the guys from HGTV did it.

~ ABC

lacarnut

05-26-2011, 11:11 PM

Good thought. I'm definitely going for a good quality bird feeder / bird bath combo. My sister has one in her garden. It's a work of art in its own right... it's just beautiful. I will have something similar. There is just enough space for one nice piece of artwork. It'll not fit in the 911, so I will have to fork out for the extra delivery charges.

I'm thinking in terms of where would be best in terms of positioning. I'm thinking in terms of where the birds would want to go to and what's the best vantage point for us to watch them. I shall shortly also be getting a cat and dog, so this must all be considered too (the woodchip bit in the back yard is for the pupper).

The garden as a whole is attracting a lot of bird-life now. I have had the neighbourhood blackbird (it sings the first two bars of Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, I shit you not) and a very nice thrush strutting their stuff on my lawn past couple of days.

We're quite fortunate here, in that we have good variety of avians here, from owls, hawks, kestrels, down to goldfinches, other finches, bluetits (many many of them), the thing with the red markings on its head, don't know what it's called but it's nice, robins, wrens (lovely creature, the wren), and so on. Woodpeckers, last year. You get the idea.

It's also very gratifying to see bees already busy at my plants. Turns out that my neighbours has just started a bee-hive in their backyard.

Several small wooden bird houses and hanging baskets draped over the top of the wooden fence would be nice touch also. I love to spend OP money.:D